Does Heath Ledger’s Joker have the “chops” to stand up to the Dark Knight?
On Monday night, director Christopher Nolan unveiled a six-minute extended trailer of The Dark Knight on a mammoth 80-foot IMAX screen. The trailer, filmed in the IMAX format, introduces Heath Ledger’s Joker to a whole new generation of Batman fans.
Does Heath Ledger have what it takes to follow Jack Nicholson’s famous performance in Batman (1989)?
MTV News spoke with Nolan before and after the unveiling and he spoke very highly of Ledger and his take on the Joker:
"I think what Heath is doing is very adventurous. What he's doing is very radical. It's very much what I wanted. I knew I needed someone really fearless."
Nolan went on to say that this Joker is fully formed, without the need for an origin story:
"To me, the Joker is an absolute. There are no shades of gray to him — maybe shades of purple. He's unbelievably dark. He bursts in just as he did in the comics."
Click HERE to read more of the MTV News article
Further adding fuel to the Joker fire is this new one-sheet, depicting a smirking white face with black eyes and a bloody, bat-shaped mouth. The image is striking, but the Internet is already buzzing with naysayers who feel that the image is too vague for all but the most die-hard Batman fans to recognize.
Click HERE for a Hi-Res version of the poster
The Dark Knight wings his way into theaters July 18, 2008.